[Anchor]

The South Korean football world, which rarely has a quiet moment, is now embroiled in allegations of match-fixing instigation involving referees. It has been alleged that a high-ranking official with the authority to assign referees instructed an on-field referee to make favorable calls for the Busan club, whose owner is former Korea Football Association President Chung Mong-gyu. The Referees Association issued an apology but failed to deny the allegations themselves.

Here is a report by reporter Lee Jeong-Chan.

[Reporter]

Ahead of the final regular-season match in 2023 between Busan and Chungbuk Cheongju in the second division of professional football, which determined promotion to the top tier for the following season, the referee assigned to the match received this call from a high-ranking official of the Referees Committee.

[High-ranking official of the Referees Committee: I will give you a 2 million won bonus, so finish things up well. You know how to wrap this up nicely, right? We cannot let (Busan) go to the playoffs.]

The official even suggested specific methods, effectively directing the referee to make favorable calls for Busan, whose automatic promotion to the first division would be secured with a victory.

[High-ranking official of the Referees Committee: Wouldn't it be easier if you just hit the (opposing) central defenders with a couple of yellow cards right from the start?]

The 2 million won amount corresponds to the match referee's allowance for promotion playoffs, leading to suspicions that match-fixing was instigated in exchange for referee assignments.

In the actual match, Cheongju's two central defenders received yellow cards in the first half, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw, pushing Busan into the playoffs and ultimately failing their promotion bid.

As the Football Association launched an investigation, the individual at the center of the allegations told SBS over the phone, "It happened three years ago, so I don't remember."

Separately, back in July, a second-division professional football referee was disciplined after it was revealed that they had asked a referee participating in a high school tournament to favor a specific team.

The Professional Football Referees Association released a statement promising "reform" once again, but did not deny the allegations of instigating match-fixing.

(Video Editing: So Ji-hye, Design: Hwang Se-yeon, Source: Office of Rebuilding Korea Party Lawmaker Kim Jae-won)